Encino Developer Pleads Innocent to Fraud Charges in Parkland Sale

An Encino real estate developer and two associates pleaded not guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to charges that they fraudulently inflated the value of property in the Santa Monica Mountains that was sold to the National Park Service for $8 million.

U.S. District Court Judge Harry L. Hupp ordered the developer, Jerry Oren, 51, to stand trial May 26, along with Radoslav L. Sutnar, 56, of Los Angeles and Moshe Ziv, 36, of New York. The three, who remained free on $10,000 bond each, were also ordered to attend a pretrial hearing on May 18.

The 336-acre tract in Cheeseboro Canyon, north of the Ventura Freeway near Agoura Hills, was purchased for $7.5 million in 1985 from Oren’s firm by the Trust for Public Land. The trust resold the land for $8 million to the National Park Service.

The $8 million was the highest price the Park Service ever paid for a parcel in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area.

A 1984 appraisal had placed the value of the parcel at $5.8 million, but Oren allegedly said he had received higher offers for the land.

Sutnar was a consultant to Oren at the time of the land sale. Ziv, a partner in a New York real estate firm, allegedly fabricated a letter offering $9.3 million for the land.

Oren and Sutnar allegedly showed that letter to an appraiser, misleading him into placing a value of $8.4 million on the land, the indictment said.

The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles J. Stevens, said the government will try to get the excess money back, in addition to any other penalties imposed.